MAAC SAAC Town Hall Forum Available to Viewers
MAAC Sports
Edison, NY - The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC)
released a MAAC SAAC Town Hall Forum broadcast that was shot and filmed by ESPN
Wide World of Sport's broadcast studio in Orlando, Florida during the MAAC SAAC
meeting in October. The Town Hall video features twenty MAAC student-athletes
with two representatives from each of the ten institutions.
The
Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) is a group of student-athletes
brought together to discuss and discover ways enhance the student-athlete
experience. SAAC also provides a voice for student-athletes regarding important
issues that affect their lives. These representatives establish connections
with campus, conference and national level administrators to communicate
insight on important issues on all levels including NCAA policies and
regulations.
The student-athletes who attended the MAAC SAAC meeting this fall flew
to Disney World and participated in a variety of events. They were volunteers
at Give Kids the World, an organization that
provides an all-inclusive trip to Disney World for children with life
threatening illnesses and their families, volunteers at the MAAC Cross Country
Championships, attended a Disney Institute program on leadership and held a
bi-annual meeting to discuss NCAA proposed legislation and activities and
issues on their campuses.
Chris
Kalousdian, a Junior baseball player from Manhattan College, noted about
the Conference community service project, "At Give Kids the World I had the
opportunity to serve breakfast at the ice cream shop. I couldn't help but
notice all the smiles that walked through the door because for a couple days
these families get to get away from everything they are struggling with and
enjoy the luxuries that most of us take for granted. My experience was great
and I am definitely going to volunteer whenever the opportunity arises."
MAAC SAAC
discussed and reviewed important issues regarding the proposed legislation of the
NCAA's Working Group on the collegiate model during their bi-annual meeting.
Some of these issues include increasing the communication with and access to
prospective student-athletes, an earlier initial contact date with prospective
student-athletes and academic components to transfer student-athletes. The
MAAC SAAC group also discussed community service initiatives, promoting SAAC
awareness, enhancing the student-athlete voice, and the encouragement of student-athletes
supporting fellow student-athletes during their meeting.
The best way
for campus and conference SAAC's to have the student-athlete voice heard at the
national level is to communicate with the conferences' representative for the
Division I National SAAC. It is the responsibility of this representative to
provide the conferences' student-athlete voice to the
Division I SAAC in the review of NCAA proposed legislation and in the NCAA
governance structure.
The video from MAAC SAAC Town Hall Forum gives an overview of what SAAC
is, how these student-athletes became members, increasing SAAC awareness, SAAC
adopted community service projects and the student-athlete voice
institutionally and nationally.
The MAAC SAAC Town Hall Forum video can be viewed free of charge on MAAC.TV under the Features tab.